From album:The Way I Are 01. The Way I Are Genre : Hip-Hop/R&B/Pop Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1971), better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer, singer and rapper. Timbaland\'s first full credit production work was in 1996 on Ginuwine...the Bachelor for R&B singer Ginuwine. After further successful work on Aaliyah\'s 1996 album One in a Million and Missy Elliott\'s 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly, Timbaland became a prominent producer for R&B and hip-hop artists. Initially he released several albums with his partner and fellow rapper Magoo. Also known as Timbo, Thomas Crown, DJ Timmy Tim, DJ Tiny Tim, Tim Born March 10, 1971 (1971-03-10) (age 38) Origin Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States Genres Hip Hop, R&B, Pop, Rock, Occupations Record producer, songwriter, singer, musician, rapper Instruments Guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, keyboards, rapping, vocals, beatboxing, vocoder, drums Years active 1993–present Labels Blackground Records Mosley Music Group Interscope Records Associated acts OneRepublic, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Bran\' Nu, Shakira, Madonna, Missy Elliott, Aaliyah, SoShy, Keri Hilson, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Drake, JoJo, Miley Cyrus, D.O.E, Duran Duran, Magoo, Ginuwine, Honor Society \"The Way I Are\" is a song by Timbaland, released as the second single from his second album, Timbaland Presents Shock Value. The song samples \"Push it\", a 1987 hit by group Salt-n-Pepa, and features R&B singer Keri Hilson and rapper D.O.E., both of whom are signed to Timbaland\'s Mosley Music Group label. It was released digitally worldwide in May 2007. The song is featured in a 2007 McDonald\'s commercial; it not only plays in the background, but the viewer sees at the beginning a DJ placing the \"The Way I Are\" record onto a turntable. The song was also featured on Dancing with the Stars when Spice Girls member Melanie Brown performed her freestyle dance to the live band\'s version of the song with her professional partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. The song is on the soundtrack of NBA Live 08 on all consoles. It was featured in the movie Step Up 2: The Streets where it was Moose\'s ringtone (played by Adam Sevani). It was also featured in the pilot of the CW\'s hit Gossip Girl. It is also in the soundtrack of the video game NBA Live 08 .